The story
The site began as a private residence built in the early 1930s. It later became a dance hall and speakeasy before it became the Lebanese steakhouse. Jim Elias opened Jamil's here in 1964 as a second location spun off from the Tulsa original, which began in Bristow in 1945 and moved to Tulsa in 1957.
About a dozen years later Elias passed it to his nephew Greg Gawey, who has run it since. The dining rooms hold Tiffany fixtures inherited from Gawey's uncle, a painting by former Sen. Enoch Kelly Haney and framed photos of Lincoln Boulevard from the 1960s and 1970s. The glass panels came from downtown's Hotel Black, which Gawey salvaged before it was demolished after the Black family's younger son invited him to take them. A piano has been in the house for decades of revelry.
What's There Now
It is still a Lebanese steakhouse on Route 66 just north of the state Capitol.
Everything that was here
- 1964–present · still open
Jamil's SteakhouseRestaurant
A Lebanese steakhouse in an early-1930s house that was once a dance hall and speakeasy, with glass salvaged from the Hotel Black.
See the map in 1965 → - until 1964
Private residence, dance hall and speakeasyBar
The house was built in the early 1930s and later served as a dance hall and speakeasy before the steakhouse.
See the map in 1964 →
Did you know?
Nearby history
Springlake Amusement Park
VZD's Restaurant & Bar
Chicken in the Rough (first restaurant)
Dolores Restaurant
Blue Note Lounge
Tower Theatre
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